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Advanced Seminar Information Systems and Digital Technology:

Regulating Emerging Technologies

Module [Module Number]SM Seminar Information Systems l [1277MSSIS1] (Master)
SM Seminar Information Systems II [1277MSSIS2] (Master)
SM Advanced Electives I [1015PSArC1] (PhD)
Regular CycleSummer Term
Teaching FormSeminar
Examination FormCombined: Seminar Paper + Presentation
Teaching LanguageEnglish
ECTS6
InstructorProf. Dr. Stefan Seidel
KLIPSSummer Term 2026 (First Registration Phase)
SyllabusDownload

Seminar Topic

The relentless advancement of emerging digital technologies is transforming established processes and practices across industrial domains (Bailey et al., 2022), bringing forth a plethora of ethical and regulatory challenges. To navigate these challenges, regulatory bodies seek to understand the implications of emerging technologies, anticipate future uses and risks, and update regulation or create new regulation (Butler et al., 2023; De Vaujany et al., 2018; Seidel et al., 2025). Accordingly, there has been a recent surge (Shahlaei & Berente, 2024) in new technology regulations in the EU, for instance, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), the Digital Services Act, and the Data Act. Meanwhile, organizations strive to adapt their governance structures to address the regulatory challenges that emerge  (Lanamäki et al., 2025). 

In an ideal scenario, regulation produces desirable social outcomes while simultaneously promoting or at least not hindering innovation (Butler et al., 2023; Seidel et al., 2025). The main challenge lies in finding an appropriate balance between managing risks associated with technological progression and encouraging competitiveness and innovation. However, this is a difficult task, considering that the technology’s prospects are not known at the time of regulation  (Bennett Moses, 2017; Collingridge, 1980; Finck, 2018), an issues which has become increasingly prevalent in the digital age. While digital technologies and their uses and outcomes are subject to regulation, it is worth noting that they can also serve as tools for regulation, and the literature accordingly distinguishes between regulation of technology and regulation through technology (Butler et al., 2023).

This seminar invites students to apply sociotechnical insights from the field of information systems to gain a deeper understanding of how regulatory issues related to emerging technologies evolve and are addressed. The focus will be on the regulatory landscape in the European Union, the interrelationships between different regulatory provisions, the design of regulatory frameworks for emerging technologies, the impact of technology regulation on innovation, and organizational approaches to implementing and updating their practices.

To this end, this seminar will address questions such as:

  • What triggers the emergence of new technology regulation? 

  • How can regulatory frameworks be designed to foster innovation while mitigating risks? 

  • How does the European Union regulate various aspects of emerging digital technologies and their applications?

  • How does this approach differ from the ones taken in other jurisdictions?

  • How can regulators seek to balance risk mitigation and innovativeness in regulatory design?

  • What are organizational approaches to adopting emerging technology regulation?

  • Who are the key actors driving regulatory efforts around emerging technologies, and how do they impact the processes of regulatory construction? 

  • What is the impact of various ways to govern and regulate technology on innovation and risk mitigation?

Learning Objectives

Students will …
  • understand the main concepts, theories, and methods related to the seminar topic.
  • prepare independently a research design for a research question.
  • identify relevant data sources, collect data, and process the data in order to develop a key deliverable of the seminar project;
  • provide critical feedback on their peers’ work; and
  • write up their findings in a seminar paper, present them, and defend them in critical discussion with fellow students.

Course Design

The seminar consists of four key elements:

  • Students will be exposed to main concepts, theories, methods, and applications related to the seminar topic.
  • Each student will work on a specific topic related to those concepts, theories, methods, and applications and write a seminar paper. Topics will be presented and assigned in the first session.
  • Other students (peers) will read and evaluate drafts of the seminar papers and provide a review on another student’s work.
  • Seminar papers will be presented and discussed in class.
     

Timeline

  • 16 April 2026, 08:00-11:30: Welcome presentation, organizational issues, and assignments
  • 22 April 2026 (*): Exam registration deadline
  • 21 May 2026: Submission of first paper draft
  • 04 June 2026: Submission of peer review and of mid-term presentation slides (via ILIAS)
  • 05 June 2026, 10:00- 17:30: Mid-term presentations and feedback
  • 14 July 2026: Submission of final presentation
  • 16 July 2026, 08:00-11:30: Final presentations (part 1)
  • 23 July 2026, 08:00-11:30: Final presentations (part 2)
  • 30 July 2025: Submission of final paper

(*) official information only via KLIPS.

Rooms for classroom sessions:

  • 16 April, 23 July, 30 July: Room S241, building 101 (WiSo-Gebäude)
  • 05 June: Room S224, building 911 (Weyertal 119a)

Assessment

The course grading is:

  • Peer review (10%)
  • Mid-term presentation (10%)
  • Final presentation (20%)
  • Final paper (60%)

PhD Students

This courses is open for PhD students. If you are a PhD student, please contact us before the first session.

Selected Readings

Bailey, D. E., Faraj, S., Hinds, P. J., Leonardi, P. M., & von Krogh, G. (2022). We are all theorists of technology now: A relational perspective on emerging technology and organizing. Organization Science, 33(1), 1–18. 

Bennett Moses, L. (2017). Regulating in the face of sociotechnical change. In R. Brownsword, E. Scotford, & K. Yeung (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Law, Regulation and Technology. 

Butler, T., Gozman, D., & Lyytinen, K. (2023). The regulation of and through information technology: Towards a conceptual ontology for IS research. Journal of Information Technology, 38(2), 86–107. 
Collingridge, D. (1980). The social control of technology. St. Martin's Poress. 

De Vaujany, F.-X., Fomin, V. V., Haefliger, S., & Lyytinen, K. (2018). Rules, practices, and information technology: A trifecta of organizational regulation. Information Systems Research, 29(3), 755–773. 

Finck, M. (2018). Blockchain regulation and governance in Europe. Cambridge University Press. 

Lanamäki, A., Viljanen, M., Väyrynen, K., & Bennett Moses, L. (2025). Legal compliance and the open texture of law. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 26(1), 1–8. 

Seidel, S., Frick, C. J., & vom Brocke, J. (2025). Regulating Emerging Technologies: Prospective Sensemaking through Abstraction and Elaboration. MIS Quarterly, 49(1), 179–204. doi.orghttps://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2024/18039 

Shahlaei, C. A., & Berente, N. (2024). An Analysis of European Data and AI Regulations for Automotive Organizations. arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.11271.

Further literature will be provided during the first session.